Filllgerlan DIPLOMACY: the BURDEN of HISTORY 0~Y N~Cnardadeboye Olaniyan A

Inau~ural- Lecture Series I02 I filllGERlAN DIPLOMACY: THE BURDEN OF HISTORY 0~y n~cnardAdeboye Olaniyan A oBAFEM1 AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED .? **,, , .k*' Introduction Reflecting on the variety of inaugural lectures delivered by my distinguished predecessors in this University. one could observe that they fall into three main categories. First, those that reminisce with a touch of nostalgia about their role and place as participants in the onerous task of institution build- Obafemi Awolowo University Press Ltd. 1996 ing. Secondly, those that focus on the inaugural lecturers' areas of ' / specialization, usually the results of recently completed research or those that attempt a reflection on the nature of their disciplines. Thirdly, those that attempt to identify broad issues which have the potential to open new debates or, usually, reopen old ones. The issues involved may be ones that have been bugging the speakers, or that are of some concern to other people in the academic community. It may be reflective or predictive in tone. It may seek to convey a mes- sage or champion a cause. The history of the ritual of inaugural le~turesin this University may also be said to have offered a fourth ISSN 0189-745 examvle: those that combine a bit each of the.first three categories. A topic such as the "Nigerian diplomacy: the burden of history" clearly belongs to the third category. Since my distinguished colleagues in the Department of History - Professors I. A Akinjogbin, B.O. Oloruntimehin and Kola Folayan have reflected on "History and Nation Building", on "History and Society", and on the "Arab Factor in African History" respectively, I thought it would be appropriate to examine the role of history in an aspect of our national life, namely, the pattern and behaviour of our external relations and to situate this within the context of history or the national experience as a constraining, defining, specifying or liberating force. This, I must quickly add, is not an exercise in historical determinism, rather, it is an attempt to take a critical look at the beginnings of our diplomatic culture, how our peculiar historical development has contributed to shaping our initiatives and responses . in our external relations. The choice of this topic was greatly in- Printed by fluenced by the German historian Friedrich Schiller's admonition in Obafemi Awolowo University Press Limited his inaugural lecture at Jena in 1789. Schiller believed that the his- Ile-Ife, Nigeria. torical profession should pay attention to what is considered relevant by the society. He believed that the historian should be able to: modern man. History becomes an indispensable means for organizic~g public experiencxs in cat egories conducive to select from the stream of events those that exercise an understa nding2 essential, unmistakable, and easily comprehensible in- fluence on the present shape of the world and the situation History is about change, and change 1s the stuff of history. 1 of the contemporary generation. In other words, changes that affect our world, our society, can also modify our conception of history itself in order for history to If we as professional historians must remain relevant in the con- be current and relevant. As one of my colleagues has aptly observed, temporary world, we must need to exude greater enthusiasm for and "the basic role of history is to clarify the structural changes which extend our warm embrace of contemporary issues. This is the chal- have shaped the modern world. These changes derive their sig- lenge of Schiller's admonition, It is not a call to abandon the past nificance from the fact that they determine the framework or setting but rather it is one to employ the knowledge of the past to enlighten of present What Professor B.3. Olorunthnehin is saying, the serious consideration of the great issues of our time. This is the action^".^ and with a great deal of justification, is that "the task of the historian only way we can be relevant, for example, to the immediate concerns is to study and interpret the changes embodied in society and explain of the statesman, the diplomat and the busy bureaucrat whose interest %e reasons for them."4 The intention is to "cast some illruninati~n,"~ is to confront diplomatic issues in their bid to promote and protect as it were, on the society, thereby providing an opportunity for thi what they perceive as national interest. society to gain a better understanding of its past and its present to It is important to remind ourselves that it is no longer fashionable serve as pointers to the future. to hold tenaciously to the "antiquarian fallacy" of history which con- The historian need not feel that only the political scientist can signs the role of history only to the elucidation of the ancient past. satisfy the needs of the statesman or the policy maker. As Wflhelm Progressive historians now reject the distinction often made between Dilthey maintained, "the historians of a nation stand in a more direct technical history and contemporary history as unnecessarily artificial relationship to its political life. than any other group of pure intel- and therefore untenable. More and more historians are now em- lectual~."~In spite of the divergent views on what lessons can be phasizing the unity of the past and present. As the distinguished drawn from history, it is safe to say that most intelligent policy makers historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. maintains, the need to modify actually do invoke the spirit of the Muse; they do refer to history in our conception of the past has become imperative because of the the process of decision making. Henry Kissinger, historian, political tremendous rate of social change brought about by the impact of scientist and diplomat underscores this point, when he says that "no scientific and technological progress which nowadays quickly turns significant conclusions are possible in the studv of foreign affairs - our "present" into the "past". In the nineteenth century, for example, the study of states acting as units - .without an awzreness of the the historian's "past" was conceived as "a generation or two back". historical contextaU7 "Now it is yesterday". The scope of diplomatic hlstory is much wider today than it used This acceleration, according to Schlesinger, was due mainly to the to be. It is defined as "an indispensable aspect of the study of inter- fact that: national relations," which is "concerned with the actions or gestures ...the emergence of a more extensive educated public than of governments, their decisions and, when possib!e. their intenti~ns."~ the world has ever known has increased the popular Much is expected from the diplomatic historian: his task, according demand for knowledge about problems that torment to Paul Gordon Lauren, is to construct a clear and accurate record of the formal that paid little respect to the homogeneity of ethnic-nations. In this, relations and interactions among sovereign nations, analyz- Nigeria is not unique as most modern African states were similarly ing and interpreting the ways in which they formulate their treated. Ethnic groups were split across international boundaries policies, the foreign and domestic factors with which they which were haphazardly drawn. Much as these national frontiers have must contend, the techniques and modalities they employ, been deplored by African nationalists and statesmen, they have and the results they achieve in attempl alize their remained inviolable and, indeed, have become inseparable from na- objectivek? tional sovereigties and the integrity of the African states. Specifically in the case of Nigeria, the impact of the colonial ex- The point we need to st'fess here is that the historical dimension perience on the future direction of policies, went beyond the problem is vitally important to our unraveling the paradoxes of our time, to of boundaries. In political relations, for instance, a pattern was es- understanding our contemporary predicament.10 Decisions of men tablished in the last few years of colonial rule whereby most relations and women determine what policies states make. This is why an were with Britain and its Western allies. Little or no cptact was understanding of the human actors is very crucial to the proper ap- allowed with the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc for political and preciation of the whole concept of diplomacy, defined as the "process ideological reasons. Travel to Eastern bloc countries particularly Rus- of dialogue and negotiation by which states in a system conduct their sia was forbicMen and the importation of Communist literature was relations and pursue their purposes by means short of war."ll banned. The consequence was that on attainment of independence, The central thrust of this lecture is this: that Nigeria's foreign the pattern of Nigeria''s politid relaths with other countries had policy md diplomacy, like any other country's, can hardly be mean- been defined. All contacts were with Britain, France, the United ingfdy appreciated outside its history, that colonial inheritances, States and other Western countries. What was more, diplomatic rela- economic dependence, internal political structures and institutions, tions were established with only this group of states and certain as well as forces from the external environment, have impinged upon countries in the Arab world for obvious religious reasons. The pattern its diplomatic behaviour and responses; and that only the force of of independent Nigeria's diplomacy was already being identified dynamic leadership can effect a departure from the historical pattern about four years before independence. In August 1956 when the Ses- development. and sional paper12 outlining the basic plan for the trainiog of Nigerians In order to achieve our objective in the sixty-minutes allotted this for future ovl erseas representation was laid before the Pa rliament, exercise, we shall attempt an analysis of the development of Nigerian one of the pal~er's assu mptions was that these future diplom ats would foreign policy and diplomatic style from the year of our political ..A..~._ .- .--:---I be trained by insu~uuonsin Britain.

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